Freiberg Cathedral is one of the most richly furnished houses of worship in Saxony and contains important works of art such as the tulip pulpit, two Gottfried Silbermann organs, the choir, which was converted into a burial place for the Albertines, and the Golden Gate (Goldene Pforte), of which exist three replicas in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Moscow and Budapest.

The town lies on the northern declivity of the Ore Mountains, with the majority of the borough west of the Eastern or Freiberger Mulde river.

Freiberg lies within a region of old forest clearances, subsequently used by the mining industry which left its mark on the landscape.

Since the beginning of the 21st century an urbanised area has gradually developed which is formed by the towns of Nossen, Roßwein, Großschirma, Freiberg and Brand-Erbisdorf.

The B 101 federal road, here called Wallstraße, flanks the west of the town centre, the B 173, as Schillerstraße and Hornstraße, bounds it to the south.

The main part of the campus on either side of Leipziger Straße (as the B 101 road, the most important transport link in this district) emerged in the 1950s and 1960s.

Smelting and metalworking firms are based at Muldenhütten and Halsbrücke and paper manufacturers at Weißenborn and Großschirma.

In 1985, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints built the Freiberg Germany Temple here because of the large number of members in the region.

The building of this temple is considered quite historic by church members given the political climate in Eastern Europe at the time.

On 6 July 2019, the Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region including Freiberg was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

This includes a traditional Sermon on the Mount in St. Peter's Church and waiting by the miners on the second Saturday in Advent.

Every year on the Drei Brüder Schacht mineshaft in the quarter of Zug there is a model steam engine gathering.

Other annual events include the Freiberg Art Award and the election of the Mining Town Queen (Bergstadt-Königin).